New with Nouveau

Spill the Wine

Tim Mcnally

Eugenia Uhl photo

We ask a lot of language, and very few words have as strong a connotation as the one in the headline. We all love “new” and we strive to be among the first to have the knowledge, or better yet, to enjoy the experience.

On the third Thursday of every November, French winemakers in the Beaujolais region release their latest wines. These are wines of the Gamay grape that no more than 90 days prior were still on vines in fields. By French law, the wines cannot be released before the assigned date.

This year, in a most interesting meeting of circumstances, the just-opened bistro, Curio, has created a cocktail to celebrate the new wine. New meets New. The results are delightful in a New Orleans symmetry sort of way.

If you arrive at Curio before the third Thursday of this month, they won’t be able to make Spill the Wine with Beaujolais Nouveau but this being New Orleans, there is always a most acceptable and happy substitute until the main ingredient is available on November 16.